The Call Of Home
by IGotTheWanderingMind
Summary: When Derek leave Beacon Hills and his pack after they've dealt with the Alpha pack, he never intended to return home. The pack still check in with calls and texts, but that's all. Until a month into his hiatus, when there's an angry knock at his front door and an even angrier girl behind it. Derek definitely wasn't expecting this. Derek x Ash (OC). One-shot! Read and review! :)


**When Derek leaves after they've dealt with the Alpha Pack, he never intended to return home again. They still text him now and then, to check on him, make sure he's still alive. Isaac likes to call. Stiles does too sometimes, just to ramble and ask him questions about different myths and legends. He was okay with that. But, it's a month into his hiatus when there's an angry knock on his front door. He definitely didn't expect this.**

 **Derek is still the Alpha, Scott never became a True Alpha.**

 **I kept it simple for this one, Ashlee is Ash.**

 **Enjoy!**

.

It was just another day for Derek.

He woke up, enough though the sun itself is still sleeping, in his bed that's far too big for just one person. But still, it remains empty aside him. Just like the place he's been inhibiting the last month. He, not _too_ seriously, considered getting a dog. Not an inside dog, but a big outside one. One that would remind him a little of the pack. One with doe eyes, like Scott. But still with a sassy attitude, like Stiles. And one with a stubborn side, like Ash. And, of course, one that would follow him around like Isaac always seemed too. But, instead, Derek shook the thought away, _because he doesn't miss them that much_. Well, at least that's what he tries to tell himself.

He padded through his apartment, shirtless and barefoot, only a pair of faded navy blue sweats hugging his legs. He finds the coffee pot in the kitchen, reaching for a mug. The only mug in the house, _because it's just him here_.

He then goes on to start a triple set of pull ups in the doorway of the living room while he holds and reads one of the books he took from the Hale vault before he left Beacon Hills, again.

But something disrupts his daily routine, and his workout.

A loud, angry knocking on his front door.

He pauses, mid pull up, and looks at the door in confusion and alertness.

Because no one comes to his door. _No one_. Not even the mailman. The young man lays the sealed, white envelopes at Derek's doorstep. Even after his neighbors swung by to 'welcome him to the neighborhood', and met him properly, they didn't come back either. And Derek was okay with all of that. He really was. He never really had anyone other than the pack anyhow. And they're _certainly_ not at his door, that he knows for fact, because they don't know where he now lives. And he was okay with that. He was okay with _all_ of that.

Until now.

Until this unsuspected, mysterious, _aggressive_ knocking.

Derek drops to the balls of his feet in one swift, silent movement. He snaps his book shut and places it on the coffee table. He walks over to his front door, smelling at the air, trying to identify who the disturbance behind it is. The scent is.. _familiar_. It's-

"I know your moody ass is in there. Open this door, Hale, before I open it myself." She threatens.

-Ash. It's _Ash_.

Derek, surprised, opens the door, setting his eyes on the girl he hasn't spoken to, by phone, not even text, or seen in a whole month.

The girl looks at him for a moment with furrowed eyebrows before walking straight inside.

Derek pushes the door shut behind her. She was never good at using her manners anyway.

"How did you find me?" Derek asks, because he never told them where he was living, he barely mentioned a town or city.

"I'm a hacker, _idiot_. You didn't hide yourself as well as you thought." Ash reminds him with her classic attitude that's stuck with her since she became a teenager. But there's something wrong, she's not just mad, there's something else in there. "You..you're really gonna do this to us?" She asks him.

Derek just continues to look at her because he's not sure which part is more confusing, the fact that she went that far out of her way to find him, or the question itself.

"And can you put a damn shirt on? All of this-" She waves her hand in front of his chest. "-is a little distracting." She admits without shame, because she's never had much control over her mouth either. Her eyes linger on his milky white chest for a moment longer before forcing herself to meet his eyes again.

Derek's further confused, and maybe a little thrown by her statement, but he fishes his shirt off the chair and pulls it back on over his head.

"Do _what_ to you?" He finally requests clarification, because she's looking similar to an angry bull now. She's mad, and still that _something_ else is there, and she might snap.

"Leave us behind." Ash clears up in a voice that's already angrier than moments ago.

"What?" Derek asks, his face screwing up a little, creasing his eyes and nose.

"Are you really gonna take off forever and leaves us behind like this?" She repeats the whole question, becoming even more frustrated, the tears burning behind her eyes slowly getting worse too.

"What are you talking about, Ashlee?" He asks, using her full name because he's plain confused, and a little offended she just stormed in here and attacked him like this so early in the morning, the damn sun's barely up. But hey, at least she knocked, right?

"Don't." She warns him. "You know what you're doing, you're trying to cut us all off. I know it, you know it." She says, because it didn't take her _too_ long to piece it all together. He moved, then he started to contact less, then a couple days ago it stopped completely. He was pulling away. And she's not okay with that.

"I'm not doing anything." He brushes it off anyway, because he wanted to do it without hurting them. But he couldn't move away and still be _with_ them. It tugged at his wolf, and himself, in ways you can't imagine. He needed to cut those ties, maybe even find a new pack. Well, the latter he's never really liked the idea of. He thinks he'd prefer to be an omega than run with a new pack.

Derek tries to walk past her, find something in the kitchen to busy himself with, look at, so he doesn't have to look her in the face, in those crystal blue eyes, and _lie_.

Over the phone, in a text, it's different. But like this? When she came all the way here, and she stands before him, he can't.

"Bullshit." Ash calls him out on it, because she sees right through him. She catches his arm when he tries to walk away from her.

Derek's forced to look at her again.

"You're _abandoning_ us." She states.

Derek sees the way her eyes become just that little bit glassier.

 _Saddness_.

That something he sees in her, that something he hears in her voice, it's _saddness_.

Because of him.

 _For_ him.

"Let me go." He says, even though he could pull away from the younger human girl as easily as he could drag her out and dump her outside. But, for some reason, he hasn't done either of those things yet.

Ash meets his eyes evenly, maybe even challenging, because she wants him to admit it. At least she'll know her driving all the way here, all through the rain and thunder, all through the night, wasn't for nothing.

" _Ashlee_." He warns her, quickly losing his own patience with the ocean-eyed, dark-haired girl.

Ash just tightens her hold on him, pushing him, testing him.

Derek pulls out of her grip, grabbing her arm and pushing her against the wall with a soft thud.

Ash sucks in a small, sharp inhale. The knife in her back pocket suddenly feels a lot heavier, a lot more _important_. She reaches for it, but Derek knocks it from her hand, holding her wrist against the wall as well. The silver drops to the hard-wood floor.

Derek looks down at it, before looking back up at her.

"You were gonna use that on me?" He asks her.

"Only if I had too." She answers, trying to get away from him, but he's holding her firmly, but not roughly. He's surprisingly _careful_ with her, especially compared to how he's been with Scott or Stiles in the past.

"Go home." Derek tells her, his eyes darting between hers.

"Not without you." She says bravely.

"I'm not going back there." He says, finally letting her go and stepping back. Because they were far too close. Close enough for Derek to count the handful of freckles over her nose and the top of her cheeks from the Summer days she's been spending in the sun lately. Close enough for Derek to be able to see the lighter blue and turquoise flecks in both of her eyes, more evident in her left eye though. Close enough for him to notice things about her _that he shouldn't be noticing about her_. Like her scent, like the way her pulse pushes against the skin of her neck when she's mad and her heart's thumping, like the way she stands up to him like no one ever has before.

Ash glances at her knife on the floor, but doesn't make a move for it because she knows in the back of her mind that Derek would never hurt her, no matter how much she pushed him, or tested him, or pissed him off. He might be the biggest, baddest, more stubborn werewolf in the wild, but he'd never put his hands on Ash with the intention to physically hurt her.

"They miss you, so much." Ash says, in hopes she can change is mind. Because, even if she doesn't want to admit it, Beacon Hills hasn't been the same without the stubbly, brooding grump.

"They, or you?" Derek enquires, narrowing his eyes at her a little bit. Even if Ash is selfless, even if she'd do anything for Scott, she would not have driven _all the way out here_ just for the pack's desire for him to come home.

"All of us." Ash answers, because she misses him too.

She misses the almost silent hours they'd spend together researching, exchanging papers and books, barely saying a word unless they needed too. She misses knowing if she can't reach Scott, he'd always be there. He'd always be there if she screamed for help, even if they'd been arguing or were just plain annoyed with each other, which was actually quite a lot of the time. But between all of that, they formed this..bond. It didn't make sense, not that a Werewolf and a human occupying the same space really makes _any_ sense, but their odd relationship did. Derek could come to her for help, not that he'd ever actually ask that question, and she could go to him for help too. They had each other's backs, and then he left. And it hurt Ash more than she liked.

"I want you to come home, Derek." She says honestly, because she came all this way to tell him that, to convince him to _come home and be with his pack, his **family**_.

"No, you don't. I only let you all down." He says, looking down at his bare feet so he doesn't have to look at her, because he's made _so many_ mistakes that have gotten people hurt. He thought he was doing them a favor by leaving, them and himself. But, honestly, that hasn't really worked at all.

Stiles finds himself calling the Alpha's phone before he quickly hangs up because Derek's too far away to just climb through his window and tell him if the papers Stiles have just printed are supernaturally correct or not, and what is true and false.

Isaac walks through the loft, looking to where Derek's bed used to be, his mouth open, ready to give the Alpha a sleepy 'good morning', but Derek isn't there.

Scott finds himself pulling at his hair, stressed, because there's a stray omega wreaking havoc around the town and Scott has no idea how to stop him, not even how to catch him, without Derek's help and guidance.

Then there's Ash. The girl sits on her sofa, by herself unless Stiles isn't at school, lazily reading over pages of words that she doesn't intently study like she used to when Derek was there with her, doing the exact same thing.

 _It just isn't the same_.

"Fine, you don't believe me? Well, I'm not gonna beg." She says.

Derek just nods, because he's come to know her, and begging isn't even something she'd do when she's staring death in the face, petrified. No, she'd laugh anyway, and die with her dignity.

"But we do need you." Ash goes on to say. "There's an omega, he's causing trouble and he can't find or stop him. Scott's getting really worried, we all are. People are turning up hurt, not dead, but it won't be long." She tells him.

Derek frowns.

"Why didn't he go to Peter?" Derek asks her.

"No one's heard from Peter since you left, he's just gone." She tells him.

Derek isn't that surprised about that though.

"I get that-well, actually, I _don't_ get it, but we need you to snap out of this, come home and help us. Before innocent people die." She says.

Derek just shakes his head, turning to lean his arms against the kitchen counter. Because he never intended to return home.

"Are you kidding me?" Ash asks, walking so she's in his sight again. "That's it? ' _No_ '? People are getting hurt, Derek. People could _die_." She frowns like she can't believe he'd really turn her down about this. "This is _your_ responsibility." She says.

Derek looks up at her.

"Not anymore." He says.

"I heard what Peter said to you months ago. Your Dad protected that town, that's on you now-"

"Don't you dare." Derek warns her, his face morphing into an angry scowl. Like he didn't feel bad enough about leaving in the first place. "That's _none_ of your business."

"Yeah? Well, the town's safety is yours." She says. She paces a little before looking back at him, the tears in her eyes more evident now. "He attacked my Mom, Derek. My _mother_."

"Is she okay?" Derek asks, because Melissa doesn't deserve anything bad to happen to her, she's too good, too _kind_ , a person.

"She's fine, just a couple scratches that needed stitches, Scott jumped in but he took off." Ash says.

Derek looks relieved.

"No, you don't get off that easy." Ash shakes her head. "If she had Jade with her, he would of.." Ash doesn't want to think of the bad, _bloody_ things that could have happened to her baby sister, the curly-haired toddler no older than 3.

"And that's my fault?" He asks her, because she sounds dangerously close to blaming him.

Derek knows then that part of her does blame him because she girl advances on him, until she's barely an inch in front of him.

"You should have been there, but you _weren't_. You _left_ us." She says, her voice not raised but still surprisingly angry. "Those wolves, all without an alpha. How could you do that to them? To..to me?" She asks him, stumbling over the mention of herself, almost uncomfortable to admit how much it hurt her.

"Then why didn't you call me?" He asks her, stepping just a little closer to her, so there's even less space between them as he meets her eyes evenly. Because maybe he was disappointed that every one of them made an attempt to keep contact with him. All _but_ her.

"Because.." Ash just stops, because the truth is, she was afraid he'd do what he's doing right now, he'd rejected her plea for his return, that he wouldn't be as happy to see her as she was on the inside when he opened the door, even if on the surface she only appeared mad.

"Because..?" He pushes her for her explanation.

"I shouldn't have had to ask you to help, that's the reason _you_ are the Alpha." Ash answers instead, poking him in the chest. " _We_ come to _you_ when we're in trouble, not the other way around." She says, scowling up at the taller male.

"What is it you want from me, Ash, huh? You want me to go back there? Because I don't want to go back, I'm done with that town." Derek says, because he's been through _so_ much pain in that town.

"I want.." Ash trails off, her frown deepening.

"What? You want _what_?" He pushes.

Ash lets out an annoyed sound before she just thinks, _screw it_. She grabs his face, pulling him forward until their lips are together and she's kissing him.

"You. I want _you_ , you idiot." She says against his lips before kissing him again.

And this time, Derek kisses her back.

But then, Ash shoves him back, because she's still mad.

Derek's stunned, because she did kiss him first. But then comes the lecture.

"I want you to come home!" She almost growls. "We need you, I need you, you stupid asshole!" She snaps. "Scott is losing his fucking mind right now, he doesn't even know I'm here! But I knew the only way I'd be able to come here was alone and without them knowing! Because they're such sweet kids that they wouldn't want to just barge in like this, but you know what? I don't give a shit about your cosy new life! You don't get to just walk away from all of us and start over somewhere new!" She yells at him, her anger bursting again until it's all Derek can smell.

"Ash." Derek says, because he can only now see how much his choice has hurt her.

"You can't tell me you're fine with leaving us like this! I know what that town means to you, what it meant to your family, so how the fuck did you just walk away from it?!" But she's too mad to stop. She's tried to pretend for the last month, the last 4 weeks, the last _31_ _days_ , that Derek leaving meant nothing to her. But it's such horse crap. She felt the sting of it the moment he told them he was going. But she knew she'd lost her chance to tell him how she really felt. Until, _very_ late into the night, she realised she was wrong. And it wasn't just about her feelings, it was about them all. They've been moping since he left. And Ash couldn't take it anymore. She had to do _something_. So, she did. And here she is.

"Ash." Derek tries again.

"How could you leave Isaac like that, huh? In that loft all by himself? He needs security, he needs someone, and that someone was _you_! And Stiles? How could you do that to him? All he does is wonder where you are and if you're okay! Despite how you've treated him, he is your friend, he's your _brother_! And I can't believe you'd leave the pack and the town to Scott! He can't handle the responsibility, and he knows it! He spends more time worrying about what's coming after us than he does about school! He's about to quit the lacrosse team because he doesn't want to risk some innocent person's life while he's playing one of his games!"

It's when she speaks of Scott that her voice really starts to waver, that the tears really start coming to her eyes.

"I really thought you gave a shit about us!" She says, and that's when the first tear falls.

"Ashlee." Derek says, coming forward.

"I thought we mattered to you!" She cries, trying to push him away when he tries to touch her.

Derek's gentle, but he pries her hands off of him, destroys her attempts to get rid of his physical contact.

"I thought we were a pack, and I thought packs are supposed to stick together." She says in a broken voice. She gives up trying to push him away because it's not working, _at all_.

Instead, she just falls into his shoulder, unable to hold in her sobs anymore.

Because it wasn't just the increasing ache of him leaving that hit her either.

It was the _aftermath_ of it all too.

Of watching Scott crumble under this new weight that was forced upon him.

Of being the big sister that he could always count on for things she really couldn't do but she made it work because that's what family does.

Of seeing the loneliness echoed in Isaac's eyes from living all alone for a month.

Of Stiles having no one he can banter with in the same way as he does with Derek.

Of..things just being different, things just being _harder_ , without him around.

"Ash. Ash, look at me." Derek says.

The girl lifts her head but they both find they don't just stop at eye contact.

Derek kisses her this time, and Ash kisses him back on the spot. One of his hands thread into her hair, the other comes around her lower back, pulling her flush against him. Ash's hand rake through his raven hair, holding him close to her as well.

"Please..come home." Ash says, pulling back just enough so she can speak.

Derek looks at her reddened lips and then back up to her eyes.

"Please, Derek. You belong with us." Ash says.

And that makes Derek's chest constrict, because ever since the fire he hasn't belonged anywhere, he wasn't been wanted, or needed either. But this pack..they _want_ him, they _need_ him, and he _belongs_ with them.

"Will this go away once we're home?" He asks her, because he doesn't think he could handle that. She barges in here, _loses_ it completely, and then they're making out in his kitchen. That sort of thing they can't just make go away.

Ash's eyes visibly lighten up because that's him agreeing to come home. She shakes her head.

"No. Not, it doesn't." She tells him. "I want you, Derek. And as long as you want me, this isn't going anywhere." She assures him.

"I..I do. I want you, Ash." He says, he _finally admits_.

"Then I'm yours." She says, a smile pulling at her lips now, because she really thought she'd lost her chance when he packed up and left Beacon Hills. "Want me to help you pack?" She asks him.

Derek shakes his head.

"I still haven't unpacked." He tells her, because even if this apartment is nice, and it's quiet, and there's no annoying teenagers around to pester him and ramble in his ear and make dog jokes, and he's got a big bed and he can walk around shirtless and barefoot, and he doesn't need to worry about supernatural drama miles away, and he can read and do pull ups until the cows come home..it's _not_ home.

Beacon Hills will _always_ be home.

The pack will _always_ be home.

And you only unpack when you're home.

..

..

 **I felt like writing a one-shot, so I did! How did you like it?**

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